What are Yu?

Yu has been in the limelight lately. But what is it exactly? Here's Yu's backstory.

It’s rare to find top of the line components in budget mobile devices. Xiaomi, the 3rd largest smartphone manufacturer showed the world that a high end superphone need not cost as much as if it were able to empty out your pockets. OnePlus showed the world the same thing, but also took customization to another level which was unprecedented from a smartphone manufacturer in the past, with the inclusion of CyanogenOS (which is essentially a 3rd party modification on top of Android). The likes of Xiaomi, OnePlus (amongst others) entered the Indian budget smartphone maket with extremely competitive offerings because of the specifications they offered  at unmatched prices. 

Indian companies like Micromax, Lava, Spice and more lost the edge they had because their offerings in the higher low end to the lower midrange segment was not really that competitive. The Indian companies slowly began to lose brand value. Their names now became synonymous with low quality hardware with outdated software. 

In the quest to not only make a comeback but also to standout from the competition, Lava made a bold move. They established ‘Xolo’, a brand of Lava which sold the first Intel Atom powered smartphone. Micromax continued selling their ‘Canvas’ family of smartphones with MediaTek processors and other low quality components. Years past & Micromax started loosing market share. 

To make a comeback Micromax partnered Cyanogen Inc and launched Yu Televentures. 

Yu aimed to do what Xiaomi & OnePlus did in the footsteps of Lava (Xolo). Too much to understand? Simply put, Yu aims at the price to performance proposition that Xiaomi gives, the customization that OnePlus gives with the inclusion of CyanogenOS & Yu (Micromax) aims at doing it in the same way Lava did by establishing a new brand, Xolo.

So there comes the Yureka. Actually the Yureka is a rebranded Coolpad F2 4G with CyanogenOS and a sub Rs.10000 price tag.